The present invention concerns a security closure device for private dwellings or dwellings in collective apartment buildings.
Anti-intrusion security in such premises is usually provided by an alarm system.
Such systems are not generally able to reconcile security and comfort of the occupant. Indeed, for many years, the problematics of the anti-intrusion alarm has been that of protecting premises carefully locked by an owner most often absent at the time of the attempted break-in.
It frequently happens these days that such attempts are carried out despite the presence of the occupant and sometimes totally without his knowledge. This change stems from the emergence of new forms of criminality, regardless of the risks, and from a comprehensible desire for dwellings to be open to the outside, combining architectural style with lifestyle, by means of wide glazed bay windows.
Alarm systems are very effective at detecting and alerting when an individual penetrates a protected zone. Such a zone is protected either by exterior means of detection, or by a locked enclosure fitted with peripheral sensors, or by interior means of detection, or by a combination of these three elements.
The interior means are usually switched off by the occupant when he is present, at least in the zone where he normally moves around. The experience of several false alarms that he will have caused by himself generally prompts the occupant to extend the zone in which the interior means do not operate, which detracts from the effectiveness of the protection.
The enclosure is usually open, at least during the day, to allow natural ventilation, visual contact with the street, the garden areas or relaxation areas. It is in these conditions that the second level of protection falls.
For an owner who prefers such openness to the outside, all that remains therefore is the peripheral detection to satisfy the comfort of the members of his family present in the dwelling while providing for their security. But it is then necessary that such detection be designed to trigger alarms and sirens immediately when any movement appears on the periphery, in order to obtain by deterrence what the protection has lost due to the partial or total openness of the enclosure.
So the result again is sufficient false alarms caused by passing animals, the arrival of neighbors, repairmen, delivery men or door-to-door salesmen for this system to be quickly abandoned.
The aim of the invention is to provide a remedy for these shortcomings by proposing a solution by which the protection of property can be reconciled with the comfort and tranquility of the occupants of a premises.
The invention can also be used to leave premises partially open in the absence of its owners, and/or to simulate their presence. It can also be used to lock a door or a bay window that is closed but not locked.
The invention relies on the combination of peripheral sensors, in particular volumetric, and a device for the motorized control of closure elements, such as windows, doors or shutters.
Many patents describe security systems involving sensors for the detection of presence or movement and the control of actuators moving a closure element.
These patents in particular concern the protection of persons, to avoid, for example, an automatic door or a shutter injuring a user in its closing motion.
They also describe means causing the door to open when a client or a user approaches, in the case of commercial or public premises.
These patents all combine security with the detection of obstacles during a closing operation and in this case introduce a stopping or reopening function.
It is known, for example through U.S. Pat. No. 4,563,625 which discloses a device representative of this protection concern. In this patent is also disclosed the possibility of adjusting the door's opening position, but no provision is made for a semi-closed position allowing the passage of air.
In a non-conventional manner, U.S. Pat. No. 4,360,801 describes the association of a garage door actuator with a carbon monoxide sensor, so as to cause opening if the gas level exceeds a safety limit, but no provision is made for a partially closed position.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,003,290 describes a system incorporating the anti-intrusion alarm and access control functions. This system enables the electrical opening and closing of one or more locks, but it does not introduce a scenario of partial closing of a closure element.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,920,270 describes the problematics of the anxiety of alarm users, or the reluctance of owners to install such devices due to the complexity of the alarm arming or disarming procedures. It does not provide for several protection scenarios.
Although very comprehensive in the field of arming and disarming procedures for alarmed zones, although providing interior or perimeter detection, although providing for gradual action on actuators (such as, for example, sirens used at very low volume as an acknowledgement-of-receipt signal), U.S. Pat. No. 4,918,717 does not provide in its security device for the operation of actuators of certain closure elements.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,755,792 describes a combined system of security and control, in which a transmission by carrier currents is used between sensors and actuators. These actuators are lamps or household equipment or alarm sirens. The system provides for three main operating modes: an instantaneous armed mode, a delayed armed mode and a disarmed mode.
The delayed armed mode corresponds to the non-instantaneous triggering of the alarm after detection to allow the legitimate occupant of the premises, if it is he who triggered the detection, to disarm the alarm before operation of the actuators.